Not our diagnosis: Meet Davyn Garza

Sunday

Mar 12, 2017 at 5:00 AM

Tiffanie DiDonato

Davyn Garza is a very athletic little boy.

He plays soccer with the SSA, adores the Carolina Panthers, participates in Cub Scouts and his favorite color is red. He’s a fanatic when it comes to Power Rangers and, of course, his favorite is the Red Ranger.

And, oh yeah, he happens to also be diagnosed with Achondroplasia, one of the most notable forms of dwarfism.

Why should you care about all that? Honestly, you shouldn’t. It isn’t newsworthy. But, while shopping at Lowe’s Home Improvement on March 3 in Cape Carteret, another shopper made a very big deal out of it and brought 9-year-old Davyn to tears.

While shopping in the plumbing department, a white man with a white scruffy beard stopped Davyn and his mom, Katy Teague, from shopping. “Hey, can I get a picture of your kid?” the man asked with his cellphone in hand.

Perplexed, Teague asked the obvious. “Why?”

“I’ve never seen a midget as a child,” he responded.

Teague shouted “no” and then sped off with her cart.

A veteran in the Army for six years as a motor transport operator with two deployments to Iraq to her credits, Teague is accustomed to hard and stressful situations. But, back in the car, explaining what had just happened to her son was among the hardest situation she admits ever being in.

“I have to watch how I respond to situations like that, because I want to set a good example for my son. A lot of times I treat curiosity with kindness. But, there’s a very big difference between someone being genuinely inquisitive and kind versus someone being cruel. Doing this to my child, talking about my kid is talking about me — he is a part of me,” Teague explained.

I imagined what it must have been like, in that car, in the parking lot. I imagined Teague stuttering a bit explaining the ignorance our world has within it and I could see Davyn cry as Teague explained. And I could feel the emotions of anger, sadness and frustration all too well. My mother faced the same challenges.

I, too, was born with a form of dwarfism called, Diastrophic Dysplasia.

“But, why did that man want to take a picture of me,” Teague told me Davyn asked her over and over. “Why? I don’t understand? Why?”

Teague has tried to raise Davyn with an understanding, yes, you are smaller than most children, but that has no bearing on ability or identity. For the most part it has worked.

“He understands he has dwarfism, but doesn’t see himself as different,” Teague explained. And therefore, Davyn doesn’t act differently due to his condition. It’s just something he was born with. No different that, say, being born with blonde hair or brown hair.

When that man asked to take a snapshot of him, it forced Davyn to painfully reconsider his place within the world.

“In the community we rarely have any problems. The kids he’s grown up with see him as Davyn — just another friend. They don’t treat him differently or his dwarfism as a big deal, because he doesn’t treat it as a big deal,” his mom said.

That night, the emotions Teague held back in the car came pouring out. She took to the community Facebook page and unleashed. The reactions were mixed. Some couldn’t believe what had happened. While others didn’t see the big deal.

Looking back on it, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have been so worried. He’s a normal kid. He’s healthy. He’s intelligent. He dances, laughs, does karate and other sports, too
Katy Teague

By definition, the Achondroplasia is a bone growth disorder caused by a mutated gene. It is among the most common forms of dwarfism and maybe, to some extent, the most exploited. According to Columbia University Medical Center, it occurs in roughly 1 in 25,000 births. Male or female, it makes no difference, as it occurs equally in both sexes.

Only one parents needs to posses the gene in order for the child to have a 50 percent chance of being born with achondroplasia. According to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the average height for an adult with achondroplasia is 4-feet-4-inches.

There are also some health issues associated with achondroplasia. There may be difficulty bending the elbows. Recurrent ear infections, due to the passages in the ears being narrow, bowing of the leg bones, and a curvature of the spine. In Davyn’s case, when he was a merely one years old, he had spinal decompression surgery, a procedure used to treat Chair malformation, or an abnormality that results in a part of the brain extending into the upper portion of the spinal canal.

Can Achondroplasia be diagnosed at birth? It sure can. Teague was told Davyn may have dwarfism when she was 32 weeks pregnant. And, like most times when a mother’s told their child has dwarfism, the news was delivered curtly and without compassion.

“During my ultrasound, the lady kept measuring his head and his limbs. Over and over. It seemed really weird. I asked, Is there something wrong? She said, ‘Oh you don’t know? I’ll get the doctor.’ Then she flew out of the room.”

When the OB entered, Teague was given the news Davyn may have dwarfism.

“I had no idea what it was,” Teague said. “So, I Googled it. And everything was so hard to process.”

After he was born, Davyn was sent to the NICU where he spent five days.

“Looking back on it, if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have been so worried. He’s a normal kid. He’s healthy. He’s intelligent. He dances, laughs, does karate and other sports, too. Like I said, he understands he’s little, but he just doesn’t care. I have never told him he can’t do something, because he’s a little person,” Teague explained.

Instead she’s always done the exact opposite.

When the decision came around to adapt their home and make it more accessible to Davyn or keep it as is, Teague decided not to change a thing.

“I tell him, You need to think, how are you going to get that light switch on out there in the world? You won’t always have a stool or someone around to help you,” she said.

At home, Davyn has a chore list like any other typical boy. He takes the trash out. He puts the dishes away. And though he may not easily be able to reach a cabinet, he still finds his own way to accomplish his goals.

“Sometimes I almost cringe going in public,” Teague opened up. “I’m afraid what someone will say or do. It’s like, you want to protect your kid from harm, but I can’t stop Davyn from going to get ice cream or getting clothes — I can’t stop his life. He’s going to have to learn how to handle those situations and he will learn it from me and my husband.”

Daily News reporter Tiffanie DiDonato is also the author of the memoir, Dwarf: How one woman fought for a body -- and a life -- she was never supposed to have.

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